“How did 2025 shake out for crypto?”, — write: www.coindesk.com
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Looking back at 2025The narrativeLast year, CoinDesk’s policy team explained what we’d be looking for in 2025. Here’s how we did.
Why it mattersThis is the final edition of this newsletter for 2025. A lot happened, and clearly we’ll all be busy well into 2026.
Breaking it downOn Dec. 31, 2024, I wrote that, “it seems pretty likely the agency may shift how it approaches future lawsuits against crypto industry participants. Less clear is how the agency might handle its ongoing cases against companies like Coinbase, Binance, Binance.US, Kraken and others. No attorney seems to think the SEC will outright dismiss these cases.”
The SEC has dismissed the vast majority of the cases it pursued last year.
Other court cases largely played out as expected; Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal is ongoing, Roman Storm’s case ended in a partial conviction with post-trial motions still ongoing, Do Kwon pleaded guilty to some charges and there are still a small number of active cases we’re tracking.
Jesse Hamilton noted that while Congress would work on legislation, “Bottom line: Post-election excitement often settles into a why-is-this-taking-so-long vibe.”
While the GENIUS Act addressing stablecoins became law — confirming Cheyenne Ligon’s analysis as well — the continuing negotiations over the more important market structure bill bears Jesse’s analysis out.
The regulatory world has gotten vastly more complex as far as digital assets go, in the sense that an increasing number of nations are advancing their approaches toward digital assets. That ranges from rulemakings in the US to new licenses being issued in the Middle East to Russia’s evolving approach toward digital assets.
This weekThis week
- Happy new year everyone!
If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [emailprotected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
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See ya’ll next week!
L1 tokens broadly underperformed in 2025 despite a backdrop of regulatory and institutional gains. Explore the key trends defining ten major blockchains below.
This report analyzes the structural decoupling between network usage and token performance. We examine 10 major blockchain ecosystems, exploring protocol versus application revenues, key ecosystem narratives, mechanics driving institutional adoption, and the trends to watch as we head into 2026.
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The FSTB and SFC concluded consultations on virtual regimes and plan to introduce a new bill to LegCo next year.
- Hong Kong plans to introduce legislative proposals to regulate virtual asset dealers and custodians in 2026.
- The proposals aim to create a licensing framework under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance.
- The SFC is consulting on extending oversight to virtual asset advisers and managers, with comments due by Jan. 23.
Read full story